Gillard Pushing Peris Sends the Wrong Message

I’m glad there has been a backlash within the Labour party in response to Gillard’s unconventional move to support Nova Peris over Trish Crossin – whom has been a Senator for 15yrs – asking her to step down, solely so Labour would have an indigenous federal MP.

What no-one mentions is that this ought to be considered racist.

I am all for closing the gap and it is great to see examples of successful indigenous people becoming role models. Last Kinection do excellent work, alongside their art, in teaching indigenous children poetry, for example.

Yet, this is not the way to achieve greater equality. It is not a case of equality whereby the PM uses her powers in an attempt to sway decision making processes in the direction of a favoured candidate – based entirely on her race!

If a candidate is the best candidate for the role, regardless of race, let their capacities do the talking for them. That is equality. That Labour has a poor history for indigenous involvement should not be used as an excuse for this either; their history is rightly appalling on that front. Attempting to boot out one candidate (of the “wrong” race) in favour of another (of the right “right” race) to correct this is shameful.

It also sends the wrong message. One of inequality. Gillard does little to improve the credibility of her party or for the advancements of racial equality by pushing on the grounds of race.